Renaming Files in Batches

In this lesson for macOS Mojave, I look at how to rename files in batches on the Mac. Apple provides an easy way to rename multiple files including adding text, replacing text, and serializing your files.

Accessing the Renaming Sheet
To access the sheet that gives you all the renaming options, you first select the files you want to rename, then you go to the Menu Bar and under File, you’ll see Rename. You can also use the secondary menu to access the renaming option. Once you select the renaming option, a sheet will drop down in the window, or it will open in a new window with all the renaming options.

Replace Text
To replace text in your selected files, select Replace Text in the dropdown menu. Once you do this, you will see two fields: Find and Replace with. The Find field is where you type in the text you want to find in your names. The Replace with is what you want to replace the text with. You will see an example in the window once you put your text in the fields.

Add Text
With Add Text, you get one field where you type in what you want to add to your text. You can select if you’re going to add the text before the filename or after the filename.

Format
When you format the filenames, you can add an index to the filenames such as numbers or the date. You first select the Name Format, then select where you want the formatted text to be. You can also customize it and set where you want the index to start.

See this Lesson Action
To see this lesson in action, take a look at the video above.